Cornwall's U.S. neighbours go both Republican and Democrat in midterms

Across the St. Lawrence River from Cornwall, there are two New York state counties that could easily be seen as indicators of the state of politics in the U.S. and the popularity of its president, Donald Trump.

St. Lawrence County and Franklin County both have long histories of voting for Democrats, sometimes by wide margins. For instance, 62 per cent of voters in Franklin County voted for Barack Obama to get a second term. But that changed in 2016.

During that campaign, Trump flipped both these counties to the Republican side for the first time since 1988, albeit by a narrow margin.

The midterm elections held in the U.S. on Tuesday night have been viewed in many quarters as a being a referendum on the president, and St. Lawrence and Franklin counties are exactly the kinds of places where observers are looking to see if voters are happy with, or have come to regret, their decision to take a chance on Trump.

Like so many other results from the Tuesday’s midterms, the votes from Cornwall’s nearest American neighbours are a bit of mixed bag, making it difficult for anyone hoping to read the political tea leaves in them.

When it comes to the race for the House of Representatives in Congress, both Franklin and St. Lawrence counties are a part of U.S. House District 021, which was one of the very few seats in New York state to go Republican on Tuesday night.

Incumbent Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, was re-elected with 56.8 per cent of the popular vote, while her Democratic challenger Tedra Cobb received 41.6 per cent. Green candidate Lyn Khan received 1.5 per cent.

The house seat results are not broken down by county, so it is hard to know how much of the support came from Franklin or St. Lawrence, but it is worth noting that there are more heavily-Republican counties such as Hamilton Country part of the same district.

Although they elected a Republican to the House, both counties voted Democrat for the Senate.

One of New York’s senators was up for re-election on Tuesday— Kirsten Gillibrand was originally appointed to the Senate in 2008 to fill the seat vacated by Hillary Clinton when she became secretary of state. Gillibrand won her seat handily on Tuesday. The Democrat also won majorities in the St. Lawrence and Franklin counties; 55.2 per cent in St. Lawrence County, and 59.3 per cent in Franklin County, which falls in line with the levels of support Democrat presidential candidates received there before Trump.

So regardless of what side someone favours, there is a way to look at the results from Cornwall’s neighbours and see Trump’s support holding or diminishing.